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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22567753">Alpine: #22</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ignisentis/pseuds/Ignisentis'>Ignisentis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>32 Ways To Say I Love You [22]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpine Is A Good Boy, Idiots in Love, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Yes he is</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 08:54:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,927</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22567753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ignisentis/pseuds/Ignisentis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky goes for a hike and finds himself a kitten.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>32 Ways To Say I Love You [22]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602352</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>223</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Alpine: #22</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Can't believe we are this far and I'm just getting around to Alpine, but here we are.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay,” Bucky says to Steve, where he’s sitting on the couch reading a book. “Don’t get upset.”</p><p>Steve puts his book down slowly and looks up at Bucky with a “now I’m <em> definitely </em>gonna be upset” face, and yeah, that’s fair. </p><p>“Right. That was probably not the best opening, but. Um.”</p><p>“Bucky...why are you still wearing your coat?” Steve says very calmly. Too calmly.</p><p>“So here’s the thing. You know how I was out hiking?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Well, I was out there, just hiking, minding my own business and enjoying the woods, listening to the birds chirping, the sound of the wind through the trees —”</p><p>“Bucky.”</p><p>“Right. Suddenly, I heard this sort of mewling sound off the trail into the woods a little ways.”</p><p>“Oh, no.”</p><p>“So I went to investigate, and there was this kitten.”</p><p>“I see where this is going.”</p><p>“It was sad and cold and all alone, Steve! I don’t even know how it got there! Maybe someone left it out there, or its mom died nearby, I don’t know! I couldn’t just <em> leave </em> it there!”</p><p>Steve sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “And where is the cat now?”</p><p>“Um…” Bucky unzips his jacket a little, and the kitten sticks its head out to look around, making the cutest, tiniest squeak sound when it sees Steve. Bucky gasps because that was so fucking cute, holy shit! He looks up at Steve, who surely can’t be unmoved in the face of that much cuteness.</p><p>Well. Turns out he can.</p><p>Steve is sitting on the couch, body still, face completely blank. He’s staring at the cat like it just told him he used the Constitution as a litter box, and Bucky snorts at his own inner monologue for that one. Steve just raises an eyebrow as he meets Bucky’s eyes.</p><p>“Look, I get that you don’t want a pet because you’re gone a lot on missions and stuff. But I’m not gone as often. And cats are easy! You just need to leave them food and water and a litter box or two, and they have automated feeders and boxes and stuff. We could feasibly leave the cat alone for a week and it would be okay.</p><p>“Plus, I bet Tony could make something we could patch Jarvis into so he could control the feeding and like clean the litter box somehow, so if we both end up on a mission for a while, the cat would be fine!”</p><p>“Bucky, you’re getting ahead of yourself. We don’t even know if the cat has an owner.”</p><p>“Sure, that’s true.”</p><p>“And it’s disgusting. It’s covered in mud and probably has ticks and fleas.”</p><p>“So bath first, then the vet.”</p><p>Steve sighs again, and the cat mewls like a response. Fuck, that’s so cute. </p><p>“Steve...can we just try it out? See how it goes?” Bucky asks gently.</p><p>“You’ve been thinking about this? Getting a pet?”</p><p>Bucky shrugs a shoulder and nods because he has. He thought maybe he’d start with fish and work his way up, see if he could convince Steve, but now that the opportunity to have a cat has presented itself, he finds he really doesn’t want to pass it up.</p><p>Steve sighs a third time, shaking his head a little as he does. He gets off the couch and comes over to where Bucky is standing. “Okay,” he says. “Bath first and then vet, and then we’ll see, okay?”</p><p>Bucky can feel the smile splitting his face as he leans in to kiss Steve on the cheek. “Thanks, Steve.”</p><p>Steve rolls his eyes at him. “Yeah, yeah.” He smiles at Bucky and reaches his hand down for the kitten to sniff at. “Can we even use regular shampoo or do we need —”</p><p>There’s a knock on the door, which makes Steve stop talking. </p><p>“<em> Excuse me, sirs, but I’ve taken the liberty of delivering some items that may be of use </em>,” Jarvis says.</p><p>“Uhh...thank you?” Steve says, looking at Bucky with questions in his eyes.</p><p>“I may have asked Jarvis to help with supplies once I got back to the car with the kitten. I didn’t know what we might need, and the drive back was like 40 minutes, so there was plenty of time to get stuff delivered!”</p><p>“Okay. That’s...helpful, I guess. I’ll just go answer the door, then,” Steve says, clearly not convinced.</p><p>As soon as Steve’s back is turned, Bucky heads to their bathroom, closing the door behind him. He unzips his jacket and gently puts the kitten down on one of the bathmats. It mews at him and comes padding over, so Bucky sits down on the floor, crossing his legs in front of him. The kitten climbs up on his lap, so Bucky starts gently petting it, flaking off dried mud as he does.</p><p>“It’s okay,” he tells the kitten. “It’s gonna be okay now. We’ll work on Steve, don’t worry.”</p><p>Steve knocks on the door, calling out, “hey, can you open this? My arms are full.”</p><p>Bucky tucks the kitten under his arm and goes to open the door. Steve walks in, and wow, he wasn’t kidding.</p><p>“Okay, I have a litter box and some litter, so let’s get that set up first. There’s some food, some toys, and most importantly, some flea treatment shampoo.”</p><p>“I don’t think it has fleas or ticks, Steve. I haven’t seen it scratching.”</p><p>Steve shrugs. “Can’t be too careful.” </p><p>Bucky can’t really disagree with that. He sets the kitten down again and gets the litter box all set up, which the kitten uses almost immediately. </p><p>“Hey, look! What a good kitty you are!” Bucky coos. “Yes, you are! Yes, you are!” The kitten mews at him and fumbles its way out of the litter box. Steve’s opened up the bag of food and poured some in a bowl, and the kitten makes a beeline for Steve, jumping on his pants and trying to climb up his leg to get at the food.</p><p>“Ow! Okay, okay, you’re hungry! I get it!” </p><p>Steve puts the food dish down and pulls the kitten off, setting it down gently next to the food dish. The kitten proceeds to chow down, and Bucky sits back down to watch it eat.</p><p>“God, those claws are like razor blades, what the hell?” Steve gripes.</p><p>“Aw, it’s just a little baby, Steve, it can’t help that it’s paws are also knives.”</p><p>“No wonder you and the cat get along so well,” Steve grumbles.</p><p>They both watch the kitten eat in silence until it’s done. Then it’s bath time, so Bucky gets the sink all set up and plops the little thing into the water. Which it most definitely does <em> not </em>appreciate.</p><p>A few YouTube videos and an actual plan later, they manage to get the kitten washed off and dried out some, courtesy of a fluffy towel. Turns out the thing is all white once the mud is gone.</p><p>“Alpine,” Bucky says.</p><p>“Aw, Bucky, no,” Steve whines. “You can’t name it yet! We don’t know if it has an owner!”</p><p>“Too late, it’s Alpine.”</p><p>Steve huffs, turning to leave Bucky and Alpine in the bathroom while he changes his wet, muddy shirt. Bucky stifles a laugh: on the back of Steve’s shirt is a path of perfect, tiny, muddy kitten paw prints.</p><p>~~~</p><p>The trip to the vet goes well. Jarvis recommended a clinic not too far from the Tower, and Bucky zipped Alpine up into his jacket, and they all walked down together. The vet tech at the desk almost passed out when the three of them walked in, and the vet’s eyes went wide when Steve started asking questions and she figured out who he was, but otherwise, the trip was uneventful.</p><p>The kitten wasn’t chipped, he was a male, about 9 weeks old, and in good health. He got some shots and de-worming treatments as a precaution, and then the vet gave them the room so they could discuss what they wanted to do next; keep the kitten or call a shelter.</p><p>Bucky rounds on Steve as soon as they’re alone in the room, but he just holds his hand out for the kitten to bump his head onto. </p><p>“Alpine, huh?” Steve says softly as he scratches Alpine’s ear. He looks up at Bucky and smiles before turning his attention back to Alpine.</p><p>Bucky walks around the exam table and presses himself against Steve. “Thank you,” he says into Steve’s neck.</p><p>~~~</p><p>Bucky loves having a cat, and Alpine is the best cat on the planet, in his completely unbiased opinion. When Tony found out they’d adopted a cat, he made the most amazing cat tree/hammock/play structure Bucky has ever seen. Steve helped him set it up by the wall of windows in their main living space, and Alpine loves hanging out there, watching the city go about its day. He also loves attacking rain drops as they wind their way down the windows on rainy days.</p><p>Bucky doesn’t discover Alpine’s absolute most favorite thing in the world until he’s been with them for a few months, though. Bucky wakes up early one morning, early enough that Steve hasn’t gone on his run yet. He can hear him in the kitchen clattering around. Bucky yawns and stretches before creeping out to spy on Steve, see what he does in the mornings while Bucky is usually still asleep.</p><p>Turns out what he does is talk to Alpine, who is up on the kitchen island — where he is most definitely <em> not </em> supposed to be — while he makes his breakfast.</p><p>“Yes, Alpine, I’m going to have a piece of toast today,” Steve coos at Alpine. “Yes, I am.” Alpine meows and butts his head against Steve’s chest. Steve puts down the knife he’s using to butter his toast and gives Alpine a few strokes down his back. </p><p>When he’s done making his breakfast, he carries his plate to the table. Alpine jumps down onto the floor, weaving in between Steve’s legs as he walks. It looks almost like a dance, like they’ve practiced it. When Steve sits down, Alpine’s immediately up in his lap. Steve gets his left arm tucked under Alpine’s back legs, and the cat snuggles himself up into Steve’s neck and starts purring so loudly Bucky can hear him all the way across the kitchen.</p><p>“Yes, I know,” Steve coos again. “It’s breakfast snuggle time.” </p><p>Steve starts eating his breakfast, scrolling through some article or another on a StarkPad while he eats. Alpine just stays snuggled up, purring away.</p><p>It’s the cutest goddamn thing Bucky has ever seen.</p><p>Bucky watches them for a few more minutes. Alpine just keeps purring away, and between bites of his breakfast, Steve will tell him little snippets of the article he’s reading. Bucky’s heart feels like it’s about to swell right out his chest, and he can’t take it anymore, so he walks over and sits down at the table, across from Steve.</p><p>Alpine usually loves being around Bucky and snuggling up on his lap, but he’s so focused on Steve right now that he doesn’t even notice Bucky. “God, that’s fucking cute, Steve,” Bucky sighs.</p><p>Steve smiles and leans his head down so he can rub his cheek on Alpine’s head. “Isn’t it?” he says. “He started doing it the week we brought him home, and I just...couldn’t say no. I’m so glad you found him, Buck.”</p><p>Bucky feels something settle deep in his chest. He smiles back at Steve. “Me too,” he says. “Me too.”</p><p>
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